Vegetarians/Vegans, trouble believing someone MUST eat meat?

I sympathize. I lived for several years with a man whose body could not synthesize complete proteins from the amino acids found in plants and legumes. Biologically speaking, he was an obligate carnivore, like cats.

While it's true that MOST people can do very well on a carefully balanced veg diet, there are exceptions to every rule, and you would be one of them. I don't know how you could convince your friends of this; you may need to eventually accept that either your friends will never get it, or that you need to find some new friends.

I think actual medical conditions that prevent somebody from being a healthy vegetarian are very very rare. I don't think they are impossible.

If you say you can't go vegetarian because of a medical condition, I take that statement at face value. It's not like you have to justify not being a vegetarian anyway.

Maybe THAT is what you should concentrate on when your friends give you a hard time: you need to start realizing that you do not have to justify yourself. So stop engaging in discussion about your diet. Your diet is not a matter of public debate, so stop explaining yourself.

There are Millions of people around the world that don't have the luxury of money and grocery stores. These people have to eat whatever they have, can find, can grow, or can hunt, in order to just survive.

Try telling someone that hasn't eaten in three days that eating meat isn't a must.

Vegans and vegetarians are generally rude, arrogant and uninformed. They've made up their minds and no amount of facts are going to change them

I'd suggest finding new friends...but if you want to fight back, point out to them that tens of thousands of animals (mostly rodents and birds) are deliberately poisoned to keep them out of the big grain storage bins...so vegans and vegetarians can have their cereal. You, on the other hand, don't eat grain...so you don't contribute to the brutal, slow deaths of these innocent creatures.

Why is it ok to kill a bird, but wrong to kill a cow? Surely they aren't speciest?

And take heart. A CBS news pol shows that, by far, vegetarianism is a passing fad for most people. In a few weeks, they'll be on to other fads. Just hang in there..and eat what you need to stay healthy.

I try not to make assumptions about other people's diets and allergies, but if it were me I'd try every possible avenue before eating meat. If your friends cause you that much grief, then make some new friends.

Of course you can live without meat. I mean vegetarians and vegans are still alive and healthy so yeah. But you need some sort of protein in your body or it causes problems.

Are you sure you aren't a hypercomdriac who wants attention. Saying you can eat a little of nuts and leaves does not sound like you need meat to survive let alone are allergic. Try using thyroid excuse next time, would be more believable than say your semi allergic to 99% of foods.

I personally find it hard to believe that you're denying the fact you really really like the taste of meat, and that's pretty much the reason you eat it. Face it, if it tastes awful, but you needed it, like people need green veg, you wouldn't eat it.

You like the taste. You don't need it to survive, let alone be healthy. Meat and animal protein actually cause physical harm if eaten enough. Plant foods don't do that.

vegans and vegetarians come from the planet Vegus and should never be taken seriously